In 2025, staying ahead in search rankings doesn’t have to be complicated. For small business owners, simple SEO tweaks can make a big difference. Here are our top 3 tips to help your website perform better this year:
1. Focus on Voice Search Optimization People are talking more than typing! Use conversational keywords and answer common questions naturally in your content.
2. Prioritize Mobile Page Speed If your site isn’t fast on mobile, you’re losing potential customers. Compress images, streamline code, and consider a lightweight theme or template.
Stay ahead of the curve with smart, scalable strategies
Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to evolve rapidly, and 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for small businesses aiming to stand out online. With search algorithms getting smarter and user expectations rising, it’s essential for small business owners and marketers to adopt forward-thinking SEO strategies that enhance visibility and drive traffic.
Here are the top 7 SEO trends every small business should be watching in 2025:
Search engines like Google are doubling down on AI, delivering smarter, more intuitive results. Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) is already showing users AI-generated summaries instead of traditional links. That means your content needs to be authoritative, well-structured, and easily scannable to be featured.
What to do:
Focus on answering specific user questions clearly.
Use schema markup and structured data to help AI understand your content.
Create concise, helpful summaries at the top of your blog posts and service pages.
2. Voice and Conversational Search Optimization
With more users relying on smart speakers and mobile assistants, conversational queries are increasing. People are asking full questions like “Where’s the best place to get my car detailed near me?”
What to do:
Optimize for long-tail keywords and natural language.
Add FAQ sections to your pages that match how people speak.
Use location-based keywords if you’re a brick-and-mortar business.
3. First-Hand Experience Content Will Rank Higher
Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines now put a greater emphasis on real-world experience. Personal insights and authenticity win over generic content.
What to do:
Share customer stories, case studies, and behind-the-scenes looks.
Include quotes from your team or founders in your blog posts.
Let your brand voice shine through in all content.
4. Mobile UX and Page Speed Are Non-Negotiable
More than 60% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, and slow load times are a dealbreaker. In 2025, mobile-first indexing is standard, and Google is prioritizing Core Web Vitals.
What to do:
Test your site’s mobile speed regularly using tools like PageSpeed Insights.
Compress images and clean up unnecessary code.
Choose a lightweight, responsive design theme.
5. Video and Visual Search Continue to Rise
Video content is being indexed more deeply than ever, and platforms like YouTube and TikTok are driving referral traffic. Meanwhile, Google Lens and other visual search tools are growing.
What to do:
Embed short, informative videos on your site.
Add transcripts, captions, and alt text to improve accessibility and SEO.
Optimize product images for visual search.
6. Zero-Click Results and Featured Snippets
In many searches, users find what they need without clicking—thanks to featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and local packs. While this can reduce click-throughs, being featured boosts visibility and credibility.
What to do:
Structure content using H2 and H3 tags.
Use bullet points and numbered lists to answer questions directly.
Target featured snippet opportunities by researching common questions in your niche.
7. Hyper-Local SEO and “Near Me” Searches
Especially important for service-based and retail businesses, local SEO remains critical. Users want fast answers nearby, and Google’s algorithm is prioritizing proximity and relevance.
What to do:
Keep your Google Business Profile up to date.
Get listed on local directories.
Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews.
SEO in 2025 is all about being human, helpful, and fast. Small businesses don’t need big budgets to compete—they need smart strategies that focus on relevance, experience, and authenticity.
Staying ahead of these trends can give your business a serious edge in search visibility and customer trust. Ready to take your SEO to the next level? Let’s talk about how we can help you grow your digital presence.
When the Enterprising Women Foundation approached us to redesign their website, they were at a unique turning point. Their long-standing mission—empowering women entrepreneurs around the world—had expanded through impactful initiatives like the PEACE Through Business® program. Our goal? To bring everything under one roof without losing the integrity, history, or heart of either platform for this nonprofit website redesign project.
Merging Two Missions into One Seamless Experience
The first major step was consolidating the Enterprising Women Foundation site with the PEACE Through Business® site. Each had its own content structure, visual identity, and audience focus. We conducted a deep dive into both platforms to understand the core goals, content gaps, and overlapping narratives. Then we crafted a new, unified information architecture that:
Highlighted both the Foundation’s overall mission and the specifics of its flagship program
Preserved the integrity of each brand identity while creating a consistent visual flow
Streamlined navigation, making it easy for users to find information, apply to programs, and donate
Donation Forms That Drive Action
An important part of this redesign was improving how the Foundation receives support. We created:
Simple, secure donation forms that allow for one-time or recurring contributions
Clearly defined donor pathways, encouraging gifts to specific programs
Integrated analytics tracking, so the team can better understand donor behavior
Our goal was to reduce friction in the giving process while building trust with supporters.
Telling the Story of Impact
We built new pages to showcase the incredible work being done through the Foundation and the PEACE Through Business® program. These included:
A refreshed Programs section, giving each initiative space to shine
Profiles of global participants, so visitors can connect with the faces behind the stories
A robust Media & News hub to share updates, press coverage, and success stories
Showcasing the Team Behind the Mission
Nonprofit organizations are built on passion and people. That’s why we created a dynamic Leadership & Team section that:
Introduces staff and board members with photos, bios, and direct contact links
Shares the stories behind the leaders, emphasizing experience and purpose
Highlights advisory board members and international partners
This human element helps build credibility and encourages deeper engagement.
Designed for Growth & Accessibility
The new site is not just visually compelling—it’s fast, mobile-responsive, and accessible. We ensured:
Clean, modern design with intuitive layout
Clear calls to action throughout the site
Scalable backend systems to allow the Foundation to grow its online presence
A Foundation for the Future
This redesign was more than a facelift—it was a digital strategy aligned with a greater mission. We’re proud to support the Enterprising Women Foundation in their journey to uplift and connect women entrepreneurs around the world.
Services Provided: Web Design, SEO Optimization, Website Hosting, Backups, Firewall Protection, Security Monitoring and Malware Cleanup, Uptime Monitoring, Plugin and Software Updates, Editorial Content Management (content edits, blog posts, and page updates within the agreed scope of work)
Overview:
The Enterprising Women Foundation is dedicated to empowering and celebrating women entrepreneurs across the globe. As part of their digital transformation, we merged their original site with the PEACE Through Business® program into a unified platform. The result is a clean, inspiring, and strategically structured site that elevates their mission and makes it easy for users to explore programs, donate, or get involved.
Project Highlights:
This redesign required a thoughtful blend of professionalism and heart. Key features included:
A reorganized content structure that seamlessly combines two previously separate sites
Custom donation forms with recurring gift options and tracking capabilities
Dedicated sections for programs, global partnerships, team bios, and leadership
A modern, responsive layout optimized for accessibility and engagement
SEO-optimized content and clear navigation paths for visitors, donors, and scholars
The final site reflects the strength and warmth of the Foundation’s mission, providing a powerful platform for global outreach and impact.
When people search online, whether it is for an item to buy or information to help with their work, they will likely come across an image as part of the search results. These images are important, because they can make the difference between someone clicking on your site and them clicking away to another site. However, they also require some optimization if you want to ensure your images look their best when the user arrives at your site.
This guide will explain what image optimization is and why it is so important for your website:
What is Image Optimization?
An image is worth a thousand words, right? Well, then, shouldn’t it be optimized?
Image optimization refers to resizing and compressing digital photos to make them take up less space and load faster. When someone lands on your site, the first thing they will see is your images. So you want to optimize them so that they will render more quickly. This will give you a huge advantage over your competition that may not have this streamlined process in place for their own images.
Luckily, ensuring that your media files are correctly optimized for fast loading times and optimum browsing experience does not take long.
Importance of Optimizing Images
Adding images to your website can make it more visually appealing and interesting. But, if the images you use are not optimized properly, they can also cause some major problems.
The most common reasons to properly optimize the images on your site include:
Improves Page Load Speed
It is important to optimize your images, because of the dramatic impact they can have on a site’s page loading speed. The typical page load time for a well-optimized website is less than two seconds, but it could take up to four seconds for an unoptimized site.
All businesses want to find a way to improve their conversion rates, and some believe that optimizing their images can help get them closer to their goal. Page load speed is the most highly correlated factor with conversion rates; studies show that people are far more likely to convert on websites that load in three seconds or less, but if the website exceeds three in loading time, they are significantly less likely to buy. In fact, half of all potential customers will abandon the purchase process if they have to wait longer than that!
By optimizing your images, you will notice faster loading speeds from your site, meaning more time for customers to spend looking at what you have to offer them. If a potential customer is waiting impatiently while your site loads, they may leave without taking the opportunity to learn more about what you have to offer.
Improves SEO Ranking
In the competitive world of inbound marketing, search engine algorithms prioritize those sites with fast load times. These sites are usually developed on responsive frameworks to make it easier for a visitor to interact with any screen size and utilize visual content which can be quickly loaded on both computers and mobile devices. To remain competitive in this area, businesses will often optimize their images for each page on their website.
Images optimized for the web allow Google to crawl and index them more easily; this will help increase visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPs). It also makes it possible for potential visitors to locate what they are looking for faster than if the images were not optimized.
Enhance User Engagement
You have found the perfect image and want to add it to your website, but it is not as high quality as you want. Should you still use it? You might be tempted to make it smaller or find another already at a lower resolution, but keep user engagement in mind before doing so.
If a visitor lands on your page and spends time downloading a low-quality picture that takes a long time to view, they will probably lose interest and leave the site. On the other hand, adding a high-quality image to your website will only increase your visitor’s interest in reading more of your content. If they want to see your image better, they will simply click on it and allow it to load faster. Then, when they land back on your page, you have their full attention once again.
How to optimize images for your website?
Optimizing an image on your site is simple enough.
First, when uploading an image to a webpage, it is important to upload the correct file type and size. Choosing the right file types and sizes can make all the difference in how well your images load, how many errors you will have with them, and how fast they will appear on the page.
Compressing an image will also help it load faster and use less data (as more information is taken out) while preserving the visual quality. There are many free tools available online that allow you to resize any image with just one click (such as TinyPNG ). Whatever tool you choose, the best way to ensure maximum optimization is by using lossless compression, which preserves all of the original data from the file without degrading its quality.
Conclusion
As an Internet marketer, you are probably well aware of the critical role that images play in your content marketing efforts. Images enhance user experience, and they help to convey more information than just the text itself can provide. However, since the visual information they provide is so important, it is also vital to ensure that your images are optimized as much as possible to get the most out of them.
Contact Print And Web Designer (PWD) today!
Print And Web Designer’s staff of website/print design experts is dedicated to building and maintaining websites that help businesses succeed in reaching their goals. In addition to creating aesthetically pleasing, fully responsive, and search engine-friendly sites, our team offers comprehensive online marketing services that give you an edge over your competition. This includes web design, content marketing, brand design, brochure design, and magazine design. Call us at (336) 684-6505 or fill out this online form to learn more about our services!
A well-designed website is essential to the success of any business or organization. It is the first impression that many people have of your business, so it is crucial to make sure it is designed right.
Now, you may think that the job is done after you have designed and launched your new website — but this is not the case. Though your website is live, there is still work to be done to ensure everything runs smoothly. This means regularly checking in on what pages are doing well and which ones need improvement, as well as keeping up with any new features or tools that could improve how customers interact with your site.
Here are 8 aspects to keep in the back of your mind while designing and maintaining your website:
Keep your site secure
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS), powering almost 40% of all websites. Unfortunately, this also makes it the most targeted platform when it comes to hacking. Hackers are constantly looking for vulnerabilities in WordPress websites; if your site is not properly maintained, it could be an easy target.
When you neglect website maintenance, your site becomes more vulnerable to security threats. Outdated software can leave you open to attack, and expired security certificates can make it easy for hackers to access your site. By staying on top of the latest security patches and software updates, you can help prevent security breaches before they happen and keep your site secure.
You should also create backups of your website so that you can restore it if it is hacked or taken offline.
Keep the downtime to a minimum
Downtime is inevitable, but you can minimize it by creating a maintenance schedule and sticking to it. Regular site maintenance will help ensure that your website is always up and running. If you neglect to maintain your site, it could eventually become inaccessible to your users. This could lead to lost customers and revenue.
Improve your SEO rankings
Your website is the cornerstone of your online presence, and SEO is the key to ensuring it performs well. Search engine optimization is an inbound marketing strategy that ensures that your site is visible to potential customers when they search for keywords related to your business. A well-optimized website will attract more visitors, leading to more customers and sales.
If you want your website to rank well in search engines, you need to focus on these factors:
Targeted keywords
Dynamic (or adaptive) content
Responsive design
Page load time
Social media engagement
Link building
One of the best ways to ensure your website is SEO-friendly is to use the Google Analytics tool. This tool will help you monitor your traffic and user behavior, so you can identify your best-performing pages as well as find and fix landing pages with high bounce rates.
Improve user experience
Failure to keep your site well-maintained can result in several issues, including 404 error pages, broken and malicious links, slow load time, incorrect information, and more. All of these things can lead to a poor user experience, which can, in turn, lead to lost customers and revenue.
Establish a professional image
Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business. You want that first impression to be a good one! A well-maintained website conveys that you are a professional, reliable business. On the other hand, an outdated or neglected website can give visitors the impression that you don’t care about your business or are not keeping up with the times.
Build customer loyalty
A website that is well-maintained and up-to-date builds customer trust and loyalty. If your website looks outdated, customers may question the quality of your products or services. Furthermore, if you have an eCommerce website, customers need to know that their personal information will be safe on your site. Regularly updating your website shows that you are keeping up with the latest trends and technologies, which can only improve customer confidence in your business.
Always have a backup
Losing your website can be a nightmare. If you don’t have backups of your files, you could lose everything — all your hard work, content, and images. That’s why it is important to regularly backup your files. You never know when something could happen to your website, so it is better to be safe than sorry.
Choose the right website maintenance partner
Just because your website is up and running does not mean the work is done. In fact, now the real work begins. To ensure your website continues running smoothly and efficiently, you will need to perform regular maintenance.
But how do you choose the right partner to help you with this crucial task?
Here are a few things to look for:
Look for a company that offers around-the-clock support.
Make sure they have experience with your type of website and platform.
Find out what kind of monitoring they do on their end. There are many options, including checking for potential vulnerabilities or scanning your site’s code to find any issues.
See if they offer any training or education opportunities. The more knowledgeable your in-house team is, the better off you will be when something goes wrong and you need assistance from someone who understands what needs to be done to fix it.
And last but not least, consider the rates associated with their services and the length of time each package lasts before expiring (typically ranging from monthly packages to annual ones).
With all these considerations in mind, finding a reliable partner will hopefully be much easier than you expected!
Conclusion
A website may be one of the most critical tools in your business arsenal, but that does not mean it will take care of itself. Website maintenance tasks can be time-consuming, but they are necessary to keep your site secure and running smoothly.
Contact Print And Web Designer (PWD) today!
Print And Web Designer provides businesses in North Carolina with a comprehensive array of website/print design and marketing services, including Triangle/Durham/Cary web design, content marketing, brand design, brochure design, and magazine design. We have the knowledge and experience to keep your website up-to-date and running smoothly. We can also help you troubleshoot any problems that may arise.
Contact us at (336) 684-6505 or through this online form to learn more about our web maintenance services!
